Pushing the Limits: Reining in Ohio\u27s Residency Restrictions for Sex Offenders

The danger to children posed by convicted sex offenders living near schools, parks, and bus stops has been greatly exaggerated by the media. In turn, many state legislatures have attempted to find solutions to this perceived problem, imposing sanctions that seem to keep the problem at bay. A relatively new approach prevents those convicted of sex crimes from living within a certain distance of places where children congregate. Ohio is one of the states that has adopted this approach. The problem with this approach, however, is that imposing such restrictions on all individuals convicted of certain crimes imposes barriers to treatment and arguably infringes upon their constitutional rights, while the efficacy of the sanctions is not backed by research data. Despite the lack of empirical support, legislatures have continued to enact tougher new laws on sex offenders. If the Ohio legislature really wanted to effectuate their goal of protecting children from dangerous sex offenders, it would allow the courts to decide on a case-by-case basis whether residency restrictions would be proper. This is an approach taken by a growing number of states that takes into account research findings on sex offenders and recidivism, as well as addresses some of the constitutional concerns of the offenders. This Note argues for this policy shift in Ohio by examining the current approach and how the issue is evolving throughout the country

Universal velocity distributions in an experimental granular fluid

We present experimental results on the velocity statistics of a uniformly heated granular fluid, in a quasi-2D configuration. We find the base state, as measured by the single particle velocity distribution $f(c)$, to be universal over a wide range of filling fractions and only weakly dependent on all other system parameters. There is a consistent overpopulation in the distribution's tails, which scale as $f\propto\exp(\mathrm{const.}\times c^{-3/2})$. More importantly, the high probability central region of $f(c)$, at low velocities, deviates from a Maxwell-Boltzmann by a second order Sonine polynomial with a single adjustable parameter, in agreement with recent theoretical analysis of inelastic hard spheres driven by a stochastic thermostat. To our knowledge, this is the first time that Sonine deviations have been measured in an experimental system.Comment: 13 pages, 15 figures, with minor corrections, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Challenges and Opportunities at the Dawn of the New Space Age

As space technology evolves due to increased private- and publicsector investments and due to the accelerated pace of innovation, Perry World House hosted a oneday workshop to discuss the novel challenges and opportunities that have emerged at this  critical point in the "New Space Age." This new age is characterized by a diversity of actors beyond the nation-state— actors that have greater accessibility and fewer barriers  to acquiring a footprint in space. As participant Xavier Pasco of Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique wrote in his workshop contribution, "Space was born from the Cold War and from the promotion of national interests with the prevalence of foreign  policy considerations." The New Space Age has expanded the map to include private  actors and "new technological processes and innovative modes of industrialization and commercial exploitation.

Granular circulation in a cylindrical pan: simulations of reversing radial and tangential flows

Granular flows due to simultaneous vertical and horizontal excitations of a flat-bottomed cylindrical pan are investigated using event-driven molecular dynamics simulations. In agreement with recent experimental results, we observe a transition from a solid-like state, to a fluidized state in which circulatory flow occurs simultaneously in the radial and tangential directions. By going beyond the range of conditions explored experimentally, we find that each of these circulations reverse their direction as a function of the control parameters of the motion. We numerically evaluate the dynamical phase diagram for this system and show, using a simple model, that the solid-fluid transition can be understood in terms of a critical value of the radial acceleration of the pan bottom; and that the circulation reversals are controlled by the phase shift relating the horizontal and vertical components of the vibrations. We also discuss the crucial role played by the geometry of the boundary conditions, and point out a relationship of the circulation observed here and the flows generated in vibratory conveyors.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure

A Generalized Polynomial Identity Arising from Quantum Mechanics

We establish a general identity that expresses a Pfaffian of a certain matrix as a quotient of homogeneous polynomials. This identity arises in the study of weakly interacting many-body systems and its proof provides another way of realizing the equivalence of two proposed types of trial wave functions used to describe such systems. In the proof of our identity, we make use of only elementary linear algebra and combinatorics and thereby avoid use of more advanced conformal field theory in establishing the aforementioned equivalence